2016 Finish-A-Long Q1 {List}

I am finally at a point in my life where I feel like I can sew and craft. For the longest time, I was so busy getting healthy and working on the house. So, I decided to participate in the 2016 Finish-A-Long: Q1. This does not mean the house is finished. In fact, it is a long ways from being finished. But, I think we are at a place where we are taking breathers and just working on projects we feel like doing.

All of the quilting projects I listed below were projects I have put on hold since coming home (the move). Now that life has settled somewhat and my room is basically completed, I will be working on finishing them. At least, I hope to finish them! Of course, I most likely will start one or two projects too because I like to work on new quilts or crafts.

So, without further ado, here is my list:

1. Finish Hand Quilting Dan's Quilt

I was in the process of finishing this quilt late last year until an incident with Abby Gail made me panic and I put this project aside. I had briefly set it down with thread and needle attached to attend to something. I turned around and there she was messing with the quilt licking her mouth. The needle was nowhere to be found. I searched and searched and could not find it. I panicked and ended up taking Abby to the vet to get an X-ray to make sure she did not swallow that needle. She was fine. It was worth the cost for my peace of mind.

I shut the cats out of the room and searched and searched for the needle. I ultimately vacuumed up the entire space in hopes of finding the tiny item. Nada. Zilch. None. It is my prayer that it was sucked up by the vacuum and I missed it or it fell through a crack in the floor board. My cats insist on being in the same room with me and the idea of a loose needle scares me.

Both of my cats have issues that I have to be vigilant with. Abby has a love affair with strings, threads, and ribbons and chews them. This makes life difficult for me in the studio. Gracie's problem is plastic. She will chew and eat them. So, I have to make sure plastics of any kind are either discarded or put in a place where she cannot get to them.

Anyway, I plan on overcoming my fear concerning Abby and her love affair with threads and pick up this project again.

2. Machine Quilt the "Layer Cake" Quilt

This is scary because I will be learning how to use a brand new sewing machine in addition to a "long arm" frame that I never got a chance to use due to the fact we moved before I could!

3. Machine Quilt the "Modern Basics" {Red/White/Black} Quilt

I have not decided yet if I want to use the "long arm" or the regular machine to finish this quilt.

4. Cross Stitchery

This is something that I will work on when I am down and out or when I am on the road. Cross stitching gives my hands something to do and is not so bulky to take along in my rare travels.

Tuesday's State of Affairs: A Finish!

With all that is going on in my life, I am amazed I managed to finish the backing to the Layer Cake quilt. We have been running around looking at houses and whatnot. I have also started up some work to be done around the house. My finger is real sore from doing book keeping yesterday and today not to mention balancing the checkbook which was a nightmare! Yes, I am old fashioned. I fear the death of ALL hard drives; so, I keep a paper record. Ha!

Anyway, Amy's Creative Side puts up a "One Thing, One Challenge" periodically. When she put one up last week, I decided to pursue the goal of "finishing up the backing" to the Layer Cake quilt. And, I managed to finish it in the nick of time!

I apologize for this poor quality picture. I did not have my handy dandy assistant to hold it up for me and it is currently dark and gloomy due to the weather. Anyway, it is done! finished! terminado! finito! I am so happy!

Here's a sneak peek into what I am doing next:

What in the world am I going to do? You will have to wait and see. Ha!

PS I just noticed that the colors are appropriate for Valentine's day. For those of you who celebrate this day, I hope it is/was a wonderful one! We do not celebrate this day much as we feel that everyday is Valentine's day. We are so blessed.

And now, I am off to rush and get ready to leave. We are going to view two houses. That should be fun in this weather. NOT!

WIP: Layer Cake Quilt Backing

I am slowly but surely making progress on backing for the Layer Cake quilt. It is wonderful to get back into the sewing room without any other worries nagging in the back of my mind. Sometimes, I just cannot relax unless other chores, goals and whatnot are done around the house first. But, after the office purge was completed, I gave myself a week off to do whatever I please. This does not mean that I am neglecting the household chores though. I still cook dinner, do the laundry, etc., and etc. I am just not letting the other things get to me.

Anyway, I ironed and trimmed up the blocks for the lone strip going down the backing on Tuesday and Wednesday. But, before sewing the blocks up, I decided to do an exercise. I wanted to check on the color values. The way I did this was to take a picture:
Note: The shadow on the bottom portion of the quilt is cast by my sewing cabinet and cutting table.

I then cropped the picture to focus only on the strip of blocks:
It looks pretty good, does it not? I then converted the picture to a black and white format:
This helps you see the tonal (color) value of each fabric. I did see two problem areas. One near the top and one near the bottom. Let us look at the top problem area first -- the seventh and eighth strip:
These two strips are from two different blocks not yet sewn together. They look really close in tonal value. If it was in a quilt block itself, I would probably change out one or the other because I would want the block to 'pop'. Remember, this was just an exercise for me to learn more about concept(s). I did not bother changing it up because this was just a strip of fabrics I wanted to use up for the backing.

Take a look at the cropped color picture above. Do you see how that area looks "blah"? I believe this is due to the fact they are very close in tonal value in spite of the fabric having different colors (brown and blue). The only thing that seems to save this area is the slight difference in the scale of prints.

Now, on to the second problem area, which is near the bottom:
Yikes! Again, these two strips are from two different blocks not yet sewn together. I found it interesting the two are essentially the same tonal value in spite of one being brown and the other blue. I think it did not help that they essentially had the same scale in prints. If this was for a quilt block, I definitely would take one or the other out and replace it with a different fabric.

This exercise was valuable for future design of quilts. I think I will do this in the future for all the fabrics I choose for blocks and/or quilts before cutting into them. After all, I would want my quilt(s) to 'pop' instead of just being "blah". Also, I learned that I should not rely upon my instincts alone and use the tools that are available to us quilters. Yes, a camera is a tool.

What Am I Working On?

On My Design Wall: Backing in Progess for Layer Cake Quilt
I am real pleased with how this is turning out from what I envisioned. The main fabric is my favorite.

On My Ironing Board: A Bunch of Blocks Waiting to be Ironed and Squared
Some blocks will be used to complete the backing for Layer Cake quilt. I am thinking that the leftover blocks will be used to make a small quilt or two. We'll see.

On my Cutting Table: Getting Ready to Cut Fabrics to Make Hexies
I grabbed some fabrics from my stash. They are not perfect; but, it will do for a practice project. I thought that this would be a good project to take on the road. I do not have much time to get the fabrics cut and packaged as I will be on the road again soon. So, I better get going on this little project.

Quilty Tuesdays: Layer Cake Quilt Top

This is currently on my design wall -- the finished quilt top from the Layer Cake Quilt Along.
I made Dan hold this while I snapped several pictures. His arms got tired. Poor man. Thank you for all your help!

I still think the sashing is a little busy; but, the border fabric calmed it down somewhat. I think my binding choice will further complete the project. This quilt top is currently back up on my design wall.

I will be starting the backing soon now that I am feeling more like myself. It was a hard few days struggling with health issues. For the first time this morning, I feel like doing things again. Hurray for that! I will be starting the design process for the backing to use up some leftover fabrics. I can hardly wait to get started! It should not take too long to complete because I have one Pure fabric that I will primarily use. I just want to add some of my favorite fabrics within the backing. Doing the backing has always been my favorite part as it is purely mine and it makes the quilt purely one of a kind.

Quilty Tuesday: On my Design Wall

I struggled with sinus troubles the last two weeks along with a few other issues which slowed me down. I was feeling pretty good the latter part of last week only to have my sinus troubles return over the weekend. It is not just me having troubles, Dan has had several allergy attacks. Something is in the air giving us grief.

I had a personal goal of getting all the sashing onto this Layer Cake quilt done by a certain date. I failed. However, I am making slow and steady progress from the last time I posted about this project.

I am glad I am taking pictures because without them, I do not think I would see progress and get discouraged. I work on this quilt whenever I am feeling somewhat decent. If I try to work on it while feeling miserable, I would be liable to hurt myself. In fact, I did hurt myself the last time I tried. I scraped the top of my big toe on the sewing cabinet pretty good. Once the pain of that passed, I soldiered on and fortunately, I did not hurt myself again that afternoon.

August 9, 2011
As you can see, I managed to get all the sashing in between blocks and the rows themselves sewn up. I am now working on getting the sashing between rows sewn on. I have the top sashing sewn on. I just need to get the other two sewn on. And then, I can get the rows with sashing sewn together along with the outer sashing. Once that is done, all I will have left is the border and then the creation of the backing. Let's see. Can I get the top done in two weeks? Ha! No promises. But, it's a goal.

I wish I had chosen a calmer fabric for the sashing. But, at the time I bought this fabric, I thought it would work and to be honest, I loved the print. So, I am using it even though it looks like it is going to be one busy quilt.


I'm linking up at:

Quilty Tuesday: On My Design Wall

I have been busy cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, recycling, reorganizing, Goodwilling, and trashing stuff. As a result, I have only done a few things in the way of crafting and quilting projects.

I did the garbage container recently as the original was driving me batty.

We are slowing working on the trash-to-treasure nightstand. All that is needed is a couple of coats of polyurethane and that project will be completed.

And, I finished adding the borders to the Layer Cake blocks which I last posted about on June 21st. They are all squared up.

As of this morning
As you can see, I have made very little progress on the quilt. The next step is cutting fabric for the sashing and sewing those on.

I am planning to relax and enjoy a week or two for myself before getting back to cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning! We are trying to simplify and organize our lives. We have already gotten rid of a dining table and two folding side tables via Craigslist and I am planning to sell off more including an antique sewing machine. (No, it is not my Grandmother's sewing machine).

I am anxious to get the Layer Cake quilt top and backing finished because I wish to play with my newest "toy" in the house.


A Sneak Tease



I'm linking up with:
 

Quilting Tuesdays: WIP

It has been awhile since I posted any sewing/quilting related projects. I have a couple of quilting work-in-progress (WIP) projects I am working on.

Quilting Book Club: May

1. Information:
• Book Used: Modern Basics by Amy Ellis
• Quilt Pattern: Basic Ease (page 7)
• Fabrics:
  
  1. "Red" & "Green": Happy by Jennifer Ryan for In the Beginning 2010
  2. "White": Polka Dot Garden by Jennifer Heynen for In the Beginning 2011
  3. Binding: Redwork Rendezvous by Alex Anderson for P&B Textiles (It is a black fabric with tiny white pin dots)
2. Top Completed: May 27th
   
   Closeup Shot of fabrics:
   


3. Back Completed: June 9th
   
   Note: It takes me awhile to complete the backing because I tend to patch up a bunch of leftover fabrics. I rarely buy separate fabric just for the backing. I tend to buy extra fabric required for the front for 1) just in case I make a mistake AND 2) to create the backing with.


4. Sandwiched, Pin Basted, and Ready for Quilting: June 19th
   
   I am one frustrated quilter. There is so much I want to do quilting wise; but, I am so limited with my home sewing machine. I wanted to do something a little fancy with my mother’s Maxine Quilt; but, I could not due to my machine’s limitations. I do not want to pay an arm and a leg to send it out to be quilted by someone else. It is already expensive enough as it is with fabrics. I did a little research and purchased two items for my sewing machine. I am ready to give it a try again. I will have to set it up and practice on a sample first and see what happens.
   
   For now, it is gently folded up and ready for quilting. I think I am going to finish piecing the layer cake quilt (below) and get that ready for quilting too. And then, I will work on quilting two quilts.

Layer Cake Quilt Along

I am way behind on this. Heh. This is what happens when your machine breaks and sits in shop for two weeks -- you lose your focus and dedication. I am unfocused anyway. So, what does it matter? At least, I picked this back up and am working on completing this project. That is saying something. What am I saying? I don't know. I am unfocused, remember? Ha!

1. Block 12 Completed: June 15th
   


2. On my design wall last night (June 20th):
   
   Since my blocks are not all the same size, I am attempting to square them up by corrupting the PURE fabric line with the addition of a “Pound Hounds” fabric by Sue Marel ©2011 RJR Fabrics. This should be a piece of cake since I did the same thing for my mother’s Maxine Quilt (some of the panels were wonky) except I am stressing over the process.

By the way, I have been doing a little research into longarm (or midarm) quilting machines and Holy Cow! How can anybody afford to get one of these machines? They must either desperately saved up their pennies or got into debt by financing one. I do not believe in incurring debt and I would be an old lady by the time I saved up enough pennies to buy one of these machines. *sigh*. Hopefully, I will be able to use my sewing machine to do some quilting things I would like to do. We’ll see.

Layer Cake Quilt Along: Block 8 & 11

I finally got my sewing machine back from the shop a couple weeks ago. It took me some time to get back into the flow of things; but, once I got going, things started flowing. I still have one more block to make, block 12, before I can start making the quilt top.

This Quilt Along is long finished; but, I am determined to plow through and get it done as I am tired of UFOs (Unfinished Objects) lying around the sewing room and in boxes.

Block 8
I love the process of making this block. I think it might be fun to make a quilt out of this one block alone. You can find the instructions here.


Cut Fabric Pieces.

Sew Together into a Block.

Cut Block into four equal parts...

and Arrange to Your Heart's Content. Design 1.

Design 2. I went with this one as I liked it best.

Finished Block!

Block 11


This block was a pain in the you-know-what to make. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get it right. I made sure of the sizes of all the fabric pieces before piecing them together and they still came out terrible wrong. The instructions, for me, were hard to follow and I also believe that it is inaccurate. I do not have the time nor the inclination to figure out what is wrong. But, I like this block well enough that I want to use it in the final quilt.

It is off by 1/2" in one direction; so, I will need to square it. I have decided to add a border to all the blocks in a solid coordinating color and then square them all up before putting it together into a quilt top.

Layer Cake Quilt Along: Block 9

I was well on my way to completing Block 8 for this quilt along. I was even going to take pictures and post about that today. But alas, my machine died a sudden death and I do not have a clue to why. I'm feeling a bit down in the dumps about this.

All I have for you today is Block 9 which I completed on March 31st.

Block 9
I really enjoyed making this block. The instructions calls for making three different units - the center square, corner triangle squares (4) and flying geese units (4). And then, you can play with them. You have a choice of putting them together in four different ways. I chose the above pattern because it seemed to make my fabric 'shine' the best.

As I mentioned before, I had planned on having block 8 done this morning. I also hoped to have block 11 done tonight. But alas, I cannot as I have a dead machine. I want to scream, cry and panic and I am doing all I can do to remain calm. Ha!

Dan will try to revive the machine tonight. I am not going to lie, I have no hope of him being able to do this as it will not even power on. Anyway, I will take the machine to a repair shop tomorrow (if Dan is unable to revive it) and hope the shop can get it running again soon. My fear that it will be costly to get it fixed. My biggest fear is that the repair shop will not be able to revive it and then what will I do? Now, can I scream?

Layer Cake Quilt Along: Block 10

I printed off the instructions for Block 8, 9, 10, and 11 of the Layer Cake Quilt Along over a week ago. Yes, I am way behind.

Block 10
I grabbed a set of instructions out of the pile and made a block. It turned out that it is for Block 10. This means I am going out of order! Oh well. It will all get done no matter what order I go in, correct?

For this block, I dipped into the second layer cake (package of 10" squares of fabric) that I bought for backup. I wanted my background fabric to be all one fabric. I am really glad I made this choice. Also, I used leftover scraps for the dark brown (ampersands) square.

You will have to use your imagination. It is suppose to be a flower. This was difficult for me considering my color palate is limited. The original instructions called for yellow, pink, red, and green fabrics. My fabrics are blues and browns.

I had a personal goal to get at least Block 8, 9, and 10 done by yesterday. Ha! Ultimate Fail! I will endeavor to get another block done today. We will see. I am also hoping to get the rest of the blocks done by next Tuesday before block 12 is released. By the way, there are a total of twelve blocks for this quilt along.

The Flickr group is still going strong; although, activity seemed to have slowed down some. I am assuming that I am not the only one to be lagging behind in this quilt along.

Layer Cake Quilt Along, Block 7 and WIP

I have not sewn or crafted much of late. I have been focusing on household chores and whatnot. I also had a bad case of the 'don't wannas'. I have not even worked on my UFO (Unfinished Objects) challenge this month. Yikes!

Now that things are somewhat under control, I feel like there can be a balance now between "working" and "playing". I am so looking forward to a little more "play" time.

Layer Cake Quilt Along:

I am two blocks behind on the Layer Cake Quilt Along. (Block 8 has been posted and Block 9 is to be posted today.) But, that is okay. Progress is still progress.

When we received the pattern for block 7, I picked out the fabrics and cut them per directions. This was my original choice in the design (use of fabrics). However, I did not like it.
So, I tried switching around the colors of the pinwheels and liked that better. I had to cut four more corner squares (brown) for this arrangement. I now have four extra blue squares. Oh well, c'est la vie! Who knows, I may be able to use the extras in a future block.

Block 7; Completed on 2/18/2011
The lighting was different in the room on this day, which is why the colors are different from the previous pictures. I am rather pleased with the result of this block. I still dislike sewing triangles; but, I am getting a little more comfortable and relaxed dealing with them.

WIP (Work In Progress):

A current WIP is a quilting label to put on my Mother's Maxine quilt. I did not have the time to create one before giving the quilt to her. I barely got the quilt itself done in time for Christmas!

Created on 2/18/2011
I used freezer paper to stabilize the muslin along with a permanent fabric pen. I will be taking this home with me and sewing it onto the back of the quilt while I am there.

Another WIP is a Maxine pillowcase for Mother's birthday which is on Monday. I thought she would like a pillowcase to go with her quilt. I will get started on that today (I hope). I want to get it done as soon as possible because I do need to pack and get ready to go!

As some of you already know, I am going to visit with my Mother and a brother and his family. I am staying for a week as there are some things I would like to do.

Besides sewing the label onto the Maxine quilt, I want to take the time to explore my folk's house and scan in any documents or pictures I find that I think may be of interest to us and the family. Hopefully, this will be the final effort (besides a photo album I have floating around here that I need to find).

I am also taking Dan's quilt with me. (You can find a picture of it here.) This was my February's UFO challenge. Obviously, I am behind with this. I didn't even start it. I know, I know. I am bad. But maybe, I will get some of it done while I am away. We will see.